Cargando…

Beneficial and detrimental effects of schema incongruence on memory for contextual events

Mental schemas provide a framework into which new information can easily be integrated. In a series of experiments, we examined how incongruence that stems from a prediction error modulates memory for multicomponent events that instantiated preexisting schemas as noted in a previous study. Each even...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Frank, Darya, Montaldi, Daniela, Wittmann, Bianca, Talmi, Deborah
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6049394/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30012880
http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/lm.047738.118
_version_ 1783340225646297088
author Frank, Darya
Montaldi, Daniela
Wittmann, Bianca
Talmi, Deborah
author_facet Frank, Darya
Montaldi, Daniela
Wittmann, Bianca
Talmi, Deborah
author_sort Frank, Darya
collection PubMed
description Mental schemas provide a framework into which new information can easily be integrated. In a series of experiments, we examined how incongruence that stems from a prediction error modulates memory for multicomponent events that instantiated preexisting schemas as noted in a previous study. Each event consisted of four stimulus pairs with overlapping components, presented in four blocks (A–B, B–C, C–D, D–A). A–B pairs elicited contextual expectations (A: Farm, B: Tractor) that were either met by a congruent C component (C: Farmer) or violated by an incongruent one (C: Lawyer). The baseline condition included unrelated pairs, where the C component was neither congruent nor incongruent. In experiment 2, events were presented in successive trials instead of blocks, and eye movements were recorded to analyze allocation of attention. Memory was tested through old–new item recognition followed by cued recall. Across experiments, recognition and recall performance for incongruent components was reduced compared to congruent components. Incongruent items were in some cases more accurately retrieved compared to unrelated ones, depending on task demands. Additionally, better recall was observed in the incongruent D–A pairs, compared to congruent and unrelated ones, because of reduced interference from C components. Eye-tracking revealed an increased number of fixations on C components in the incongruent and unrelated conditions. These results suggest that the integration of incongruent items into an episode is impaired, compared to congruent items, despite the contextual surprise and increased attention they elicited at encoding. However, there was a beneficial effect of prediction error on memory performance, compared to a baseline, depending on the task used.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-6049394
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2018
publisher Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-60493942019-08-01 Beneficial and detrimental effects of schema incongruence on memory for contextual events Frank, Darya Montaldi, Daniela Wittmann, Bianca Talmi, Deborah Learn Mem Research Mental schemas provide a framework into which new information can easily be integrated. In a series of experiments, we examined how incongruence that stems from a prediction error modulates memory for multicomponent events that instantiated preexisting schemas as noted in a previous study. Each event consisted of four stimulus pairs with overlapping components, presented in four blocks (A–B, B–C, C–D, D–A). A–B pairs elicited contextual expectations (A: Farm, B: Tractor) that were either met by a congruent C component (C: Farmer) or violated by an incongruent one (C: Lawyer). The baseline condition included unrelated pairs, where the C component was neither congruent nor incongruent. In experiment 2, events were presented in successive trials instead of blocks, and eye movements were recorded to analyze allocation of attention. Memory was tested through old–new item recognition followed by cued recall. Across experiments, recognition and recall performance for incongruent components was reduced compared to congruent components. Incongruent items were in some cases more accurately retrieved compared to unrelated ones, depending on task demands. Additionally, better recall was observed in the incongruent D–A pairs, compared to congruent and unrelated ones, because of reduced interference from C components. Eye-tracking revealed an increased number of fixations on C components in the incongruent and unrelated conditions. These results suggest that the integration of incongruent items into an episode is impaired, compared to congruent items, despite the contextual surprise and increased attention they elicited at encoding. However, there was a beneficial effect of prediction error on memory performance, compared to a baseline, depending on the task used. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press 2018-08 /pmc/articles/PMC6049394/ /pubmed/30012880 http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/lm.047738.118 Text en © 2018 Frank et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This article is distributed exclusively by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press for the first 12 months after the full-issue publication date (see http://learnmem.cshlp.org/site/misc/terms.xhtml). After 12 months, it is available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International), as described at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
spellingShingle Research
Frank, Darya
Montaldi, Daniela
Wittmann, Bianca
Talmi, Deborah
Beneficial and detrimental effects of schema incongruence on memory for contextual events
title Beneficial and detrimental effects of schema incongruence on memory for contextual events
title_full Beneficial and detrimental effects of schema incongruence on memory for contextual events
title_fullStr Beneficial and detrimental effects of schema incongruence on memory for contextual events
title_full_unstemmed Beneficial and detrimental effects of schema incongruence on memory for contextual events
title_short Beneficial and detrimental effects of schema incongruence on memory for contextual events
title_sort beneficial and detrimental effects of schema incongruence on memory for contextual events
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6049394/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30012880
http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/lm.047738.118
work_keys_str_mv AT frankdarya beneficialanddetrimentaleffectsofschemaincongruenceonmemoryforcontextualevents
AT montaldidaniela beneficialanddetrimentaleffectsofschemaincongruenceonmemoryforcontextualevents
AT wittmannbianca beneficialanddetrimentaleffectsofschemaincongruenceonmemoryforcontextualevents
AT talmideborah beneficialanddetrimentaleffectsofschemaincongruenceonmemoryforcontextualevents